How To Import Photos from SD Card to Mac Photos

If you have a digital camera that uses a SD card (whether it be standard SD, SDHC, or SDXC) it is very handy to know how to import photos directly from the SD card to your computer without having to fuzz about finding the right cable.

A SD Memory Card [Freeimages.com/Matt Palmer]

Example of a SD card reader slot on a Mac computer

A typical external memory card reader [Freeimages.com/Alex Ado]

Prerequisites

A SD memory card – first image above. These come in many different shapes and sizes, but the general layout and size are all the same.

A card reader – either of the latter images above. Can be built into your computer or be an external card reader.

Import photos from SD card to the Photos app

Photos app in Mac OS X Dock

Insert the SD card into the card reader slot on your computer. If you have an external card reader, connect it to a USB port on your computer first.

When Photos has opened, make sure the Import tab is selected at the very top of the window. On this screen you can…

Import All New Photos (A), meaning it will only import photos that have not been imported to Photos previously.

Import Selected (B), an option to import only those pictures that you specifically select by clicking on them in the grid of images below.

Delete items after import (C), check this option if you want to have your photos exist only in the Photos app on your Mac after each import.

Decide if you want to open Photos automatically for this card in the future (recommended!) (D).

To import, simply click Import All New Photos (A).

Done! After the import is done, your pictures will show up in the album “Last Import” and will be automatically sorted by date for future viewing in the “Photos” tab (leftmost tab at the very top of the Photos app).

3 Responses

Hi …appreciate these very clear instructions, but my SD Card does not appear in Finder, under Devices. I’ve gone into Finder Preferences and there’s already a checkmark on HD, and External Drive, and the one for CDs, DVDs, Ipod, etc. No memory card icon appears on my Desktop or Tool Bar, either. I don’t want to pull out my SD Card and cause damage, so what to do? Help!

If you can’t see your SD card anywhere on your computer, there may be a problem with the SD card reader slot on your Mac. Before you do anything else, make sure the card is inserted facing up and that it’s pushed in all the way. Then, follow these steps to see if the card is seen by the computer at all:

Open Finder (furthest icon to the left in your Dock).

In the sidebar, find the Applications folder.

Scroll down the list of applications and select the Utilities folder, then open the application Disk Utility.

Disk Utility opens. This application allows you to see all drives currently connected to your computer, even if they can’t be shown in Finder.

In the Disk Utility sidebar, look for your SD card. If there’s a card there without a formatted drive, it may be that you have to format the SD card.

Formatting any drive (including an SD card) will permanently erase all data on it, so only do this if you’re absolutely sure you have backed up all your data somewhere else. I won’t write instructions for how to do this here, but you can find them with an easy Google search.

Thanks for that info, howtoadmin. For some reason (weeks ago), I was able to resolve the situation by Shutting Down my Mac and then restarting. After that, the SD Card icon appeared in Finder under Devices, and I was able to dismount the SD Card so to speak. As for the many times I DID pull out the SD Card without the proper procedure, my card and all photos are still intact. But, I prefer using the proper procedure. I will ‘copy’ and use your instructions for future problems, though!!